The Veteran by Frederick Forsyth

" After taking a break from his normal writing to write a so-so sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Frederic Forsyth has returned to his more comfortable arena of suspense with this collection of five novellas and short stories. The stories are all quite distinct. The title story deals with the murder of an old man by a pair of street thugs and the subsequent investigation and trial. While reasonably good, it is perhaps the weakest in the bunch because the twist is not that hard to figure out. The other stories include a caper story set in the art world, a brief World War II story, a tale about drug smuggling (also with a rather obvious twist), and finally, a short novel about a survivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn. This final story is the best in the bunch, with a radical and unexpected change in the middle of the story. Forsyth's greatest works are in novels, not short stories, but overall, this collection holds up well. Forsyth fans should be pleased as should general suspense fans....."